Otavalo and Quito

SHARLA: Okay, last night, we had full intentions of calling home, but our stomachs won out. We found a really good American food restaurant in Cotacachi. Apparently, it's where all the local "gringos" hang out because it got really busy in the evening. Before the rush, we met a great couple from Arizona, Kim and Joe, who are spending a month in Ecuador (their first time), actively looking for a retirement home here. It is so beautiful, I'm not sure why anyone wouldn't want to retire here. We talked to them for quite some time, and got our bellies full of great guacamole and bean burritos. It was dark when we left the restaurant, so we made the wise decision to take a taxi for $1 to our cabana. Really good decision, as the last part of the road is dirt and pitch black.

When we got back to the cabana, we realized we needed toilet paper, so we left the cabana and went to the caretaker's house, but not before I realized that the door automatically locks if you close the door....and the key was hanging on the inside of the door :) The caretaker wasn't too happy....he thought that there was only one key for the lock. He called the owners and found out that there was indeed a second key. I know he was thinking "stupid gringas," but deep down I'm pretty sure he liked us and I know he will never forget us!

After a good night's sleep, we got up and packed, ate a breakfast of bread, cheese, coffee and tomato de arbol (tomato of the tree) juice. Yep, there are tomatoes that grow on trees. The juice is pretty good, too, although it's probably not something that I will crave when I get home. We said our goodbyes and took a taxi to Otavalo...about a 20 minute ride. Sunday market in Otavalo is amazing. There is so much stuff that you really sort of get overwhelmed by it all. We said before we left the states, and since we've been here that we were not going to buy ANYTHING here. Well, okay, maybe these great Panama hats (which are ALL made in Ecuador) that were about two booths in. But, that's ALL!!! Okay, well maybe we might want to buy Christmas presents while we're here...that's a great idea! Oh, and well, now we need a new Ecuadorian textile bag to put all of our new stuff in. Best laid plans as they say. We LITERALLY both ran completely out of money before we got out of the market. Just pennies to our name.

Decided we better find the bus station and head for Quito, but on our way, we met a man from Florida, Gary, who was really nice. He has travelled to over 160 countries, and was full of very interesting stories. We had a leisurely lunch with him and then caught the bus with him to Quito. We shared a taxi to our hotels...his first, which was the Radisson (probably $200/night), and then to ours...which we LOVE by the way and it's only $25/pp a night. And it's full of the charm of old colonial Quito.

When we were checking back in, we met ANOTHER great couple, Sally and Tim, from Australia, who have been here one day and are on their way to the Galapagos Islands. Marsha recommended our favorite restaurant here to them and gave them directions. We threw our stuff into our room and rushed out to try to find an ATM and a phone. Forgetting it's Sunday, and everything is closed, we did find an ATM, and a pay phone. We tried to call and confirm our reservations for Lago Agrio tomorrow, but the airlines were closed as well. Nothing else to do but go eat! Lo and behold, guess who was there? Sally and Tim. We sat at a table next to theirs and at the amazing pasta we had been craving. We got up to leave, and Sally and Tim invited us to join them. I was a little embarrassed because we haven't bathed in three days (the water at our cabana was ice cold), but they were so warm and welcoming that I overcame it. They were so funny, and we just hit it off. We laughed so hard that our cheeks hurt! We walked back with them to the hotel, and finally got to take a nice long shower. YAY!

We unpacked and then repacked everything in preparation for our 4-day jungle trek in the Amazon. We will leave early in the morning to catch our flight, and I'm pretty sure there's no internet in the jungle, so it will be several days before we get to post again. We will be thinking of you all while we are in the wilds!!!

MARSHA: wow, never wanna type much after reading sharias coz it pretty much tells it all but know theres a few of my friends that just want my quickie condensed version. last time we were in ecuador, we didn't care for the food. this time,(the first week or so) we found some stuff we really loved and craved more. however, since we arrived in quito, we now remember why we didn't like it. its really bad. sooooooo, found a gringo cafe and had a great dinner and met our first official new friends who we will keep in touch with via email. joe and kim. had great time with them. left cabanas this morning bout 9:30 and got to otavalo around 10. had heard about the sunday market (last time we were there was not on a sunday) and wow its amazing. we had so much fun. got lots of great christmas presents. we kept trying to leave the market and head to the bus station but COULD NOT LEAVE. we spent down to i think we had maybe 40 or 50 cents between us. so headed to atm when we met this awesome man who we ended up going to have a beer and then to the bus station. we shared a cab and dropped him off first at his new fancy hotel and we went to the old town to our nice little cozy hostel where they are so nice to allow us to lock our large backpacks in their luggage storage room. its kind of our home base coz we come back here every few days and spend the night and wash clothes and regroup and repack for our next excursion. anyway when we got back to our room, we met the most amazing couple jim and sally from australia. they asked about food and i suggested a place we ate at a few nights ago and were going back tonight. well they were there when we got there. after everyone was finished, we joined them at their table and had the best time. we laughed, cried, told travel stories, kid stories and will be keeping in touch with them as well. they want us to plan a trip to australia now. woo hoo..... anyway, they leave for the galapagos in the morning about the time we leave for the airport so were gonna split a cab. we are off to the jungle in the morning so wont be hearing from us in a few days so don't freak out. will write when we get back here to quito. thanks to all y'all for checking on us. this was kinda a long one for me coz i usually keep em kinda short. sharia does such a great job with the details i just kinda add a few lines. ok. gotta get up and fly an hour, take a bus for 2 hours, then take a canoe for 3 hours then get settled in in our ?hut??? cant wait to tell about this adventure. till next time.......